more caribou lawsuits...

[WAcoyotehunter]

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2015/mar/24/endangered-selkirk-caribou-critical


How ironic that some of the groups involved in this lawsuit are also currently involved in a lawsuit to halt Wildlife Services from removing wolves in Washington. Meanwhile, wolves and caribou are comingling and the they have been identified as the #1 source of mortality. I really have to question the motives of the groups involved in the critical habitat lawsuit. If saving the last remaining caribou was really their top priority, I would think they would be looking for more realistic and immediate ways to do that.  At the current rate of decline that population will be GONE by the end of this decade. 

[luvmystang67]

 

[Special T]

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2015/mar/24/endangered-selkirk-caribou-critical


How ironic that some of the groups involved in this lawsuit are also currently involved in a lawsuit to halt Wildlife Services from removing wolves in Washington. Meanwhile, wolves and caribou are comingling and the they have been identified as the #1 source of mortality. I really have to question the motives of the groups involved in the critical habitat lawsuit. If saving the last remaining caribou was really their top priority, I would think they would be looking for more realistic and immediate ways to do that.  At the current rate of decline that population will be GONE by the end of this decade.

You know the answer so my response is rhetorical...

Its Because they DON'T care about the animals! Its about Control! These groups seek to limit multiple use land bay every method possible. There are places that are left "Pristine" and mostly untouched by man, they are called National Parks! Go, and enjoy them. I would be all for curtailing all human activity if the insanity was just confined to these places....

[Elkaholic daWg]

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2015/mar/24/endangered-selkirk-caribou-critical


How ironic that some of the groups involved in this lawsuit are also currently involved in a lawsuit to halt Wildlife Services from removing wolves in Washington. Meanwhile, wolves and caribou are comingling and the they have been identified as the #1 source of mortality. I really have to question the motives of the groups involved in the critical habitat lawsuit. If saving the last remaining caribou was really their top priority, I would think they would be looking for more realistic and immediate ways to do that.  At the current rate of decline that population will be GONE by the end of this decade.

You know the answe so my responce is retorical...

Its Because they DON'T care about the animals! Its about Control! These groups seek to limit multipal use land bay every method possible. There are places that are left "Prisitne" and mostly untouched by man, they are called National Parks! Go, and enjoy them. I would be all for curtailing all human activity if the insanity was just confined to these places....

ALL about control!!   

[timberfaller]

BINGO!  It always been about "control"

[wolfbait]

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2015/mar/24/endangered-selkirk-caribou-critical


How ironic that some of the groups involved in this lawsuit are also currently involved in a lawsuit to halt Wildlife Services from removing wolves in Washington. Meanwhile, wolves and caribou are comingling and the they have been identified as the #1 source of mortality. I really have to question the motives of the groups involved in the critical habitat lawsuit. If saving the last remaining caribou was really their top priority, I would think they would be looking for more realistic and immediate ways to do that.  At the current rate of decline that population will be GONE by the end of this decade.

You know the answe so my responce is retorical...

Its Because they DON'T care about the animals! Its about Control! These groups seek to limit multipal use land bay every method possible. There are places that are left "Prisitne" and mostly untouched by man, they are called National Parks! Go, and enjoy them. I would be all for curtailing all human activity if the insanity was just confined to these places....

ALL about control!!   

 The Habitat Push!

I think we have covered this before on H-W, the only difference, it is the environmental groups instead of WDFW, biologists etc.

[luvmystang67]

This might be the wrong way to look at this, but a sick part of me is rooting for the wolves here.  I don't really believe that they're a genetically different group than the plentiful mountain caribou up in Canada and I don't really view them as endangered.  If the wolves were successful then we could spend a lot of time, money and effort on other things...   

Call me ignorant... but that makes the most sense to me.

[bobcat]

Honestly, I also have to say I don't really care about a few caribou in the NE corner of the state, that we can't hunt and which almost nobody ever sees. I wish they would stop wasting money on studying them, and trying to save them. There are plenty of caribou north of the border.

[WAcoyotehunter]

I disagree.

The caribou are part of a genetically distinct population that extends into Canada.  The numbers throughout their range are declining, not just in the US portion.  It's important to maintain these small herds for genetic exchange and because (IMO) its the right thing to do. 

Caribou are unlikely to return to a huntable population in some of our lifetimes, but that is the ultimate goal for recovery.  It's shameful that hunters are turning their back on this species.  Where would elk (or bison, deer, turkeys...) be in North America if hunters had responded like this when their populations were critically low?

 

[bobcat]

Sorry but it just seems like a lost cause to me. It sounds like habitat is the main issue, and now with wolves in the equation, it seems like they don't have a chance.

[pianoman9701]

The population remained between 40-55 animals for about a decade before the wolves arrived. There is a direct correlation between their present critical numbers and the addition to wolves on the scene. Ignore it if you insist, but that doesn't make it untrue.

[WAcoyotehunter]

 
Wolves are recognized as the main source of mortality,  The caribou population was on an upward trend until wolf recovery

[luvmystang67]

I guess my comment needs some further explanation.  I think at 40-50 animals, that is worth protecting as they may be able to recover.  At down at the 15-20 animals they're talking now and the resurgence of wolves... I don't think they have snowballs chance.

It doesn't look like the BC/Alberta herds are necessarily doing great and it does look like that population is perhaps different enough from other woodland populations to warrant protection, but perhaps it'd be better to give that money to Canada, rather than protect the southern-most tip of their range here.

Part of me wants the wolf lovers to boil in their own dilemma and deal with the consequences they've created for themselves.  There's no real plausible deniability on in this scenario, wolves are directly the cause in the recent decline and I don't think a fragile population of woodland caribou and wolves can coexist in the Selkirk region.

So, given that I now think its a lost cause for them (personally), I kind of wish the wolves would just get on with it and chomp the remaining few to put the final nail in that coffin.

However, then the enviro-nuts would probably transplant a population and start the whole process over again, and they wouldn't even have the claim that they were a distinct subspecies anymore.  They should plant these things in the olympic national park instead... no wolves there, might do better.

[pianoman9701]

I've coined a very poignant phrase and I'll repeat it here: woodland caribou are the collateral damage of the outrageous wolf plan.

[bobcat]

I don't see how it can be blamed on the wolf plan. The wolves, yes. But a written document? The wolves will eat the caribou no matter what the wolf plan says.